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Motorola Macro One . A new hype ! Review

There’s an abundance of choice among Motorola

smartphones in 2020. The Lenovo-owned

company might be headlined by the new Razr

and budget staple G line, but there are plenty of other

options. Among the most interesting is the One range,

affordable handsets which focus on a specific feature

in order maximize its impact.


The Motorola One Macro puts emphasis on, you

guessed it, macro photography. Few phones focus

heavily on extreme close-up shots, so it’s a sure-fire

way to stand out from the crowd.

But is it able to deliver the complete smartphone

experience that Motorola users demand?

Design

I’m really impressed by the design of the Motorola

One Macro. Despite having a plastic back, it looks and

feels like a premium device. This choice of materials

also makes it lighter, less resistant to fingerprints and

easier to grip case-free than an all-glass phone.

There’s no getting away from the fact that the front

of this phone looks like dozens of other handsets on

the market, complete with a teardrop notch (housing

the front-facing camera) and fairly sizeable chin. While

the 81.3 percent screen-to-body ratio is perfectly

Three rear cameras are arranged

vertically, while the Motorola

logo is cleverly built-in to the

physical fingerprint scanner 

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acceptable, I would have happily traded the notch

for a slightly larger top bezel.

The screen itself is a 6.2in, 1,520x720 LCD panel.

This sounds disappointing on paper, but the recent

iPhones have proven that lower resolution displays

are far from a dealbreaker.

The back of the phone is undoubtedly more

exciting to look at. While it only comes in a single

Space Blue variant, this colour gradient looks stunning.

It’s helped by there being very little else going

on on the back of the phone. Triple rear cameras

are arranged vertically, while the Motorola logo is

cleverly built into the physical fingerprint scanner.

This gives the device a clean look and feel without

the need for excessive branding.

I’m a big fan of the textured power button, which

is positioned just below the volume rocker on the

right side of the device. All the physical buttons

remain tactile and responsive, even when using

the supplied clear plastic case. It’s good to see

Motorola retain the 3.5mm headphone jack, an all

too rare feature of modern handsets. Charging is

via USB-C too, with the port positioned next to a

mono downward-firing speaker, which produces

a surprisingly rich and full-bodied sound.

Hardware and performance

There are plenty of positives design-wise, and

I’m pleased to report it’s a similar situation on

performance. Motorola has gone with the MediaTek

Helio P70 processor, as opposed to something from

industry-standard Qualcomm’s Snapdragon line.
However, combining this with a Mali-G72 CPU
means the One Macro is able to handle everyday

tasks without any issue whatsoever.

Of course, the benchmarks all our phones are

tested on provide situations which you might not

regularly experience. They aim to test devices to their

limits, and the results show how the likes of Xiaomi

and Oppo have really pushed the boundaries on

what’s capable with regards to processing power.

Mobile gaming was an area where the One Macro

fell short a little. Most games were more than playable,

but we did encounter some stuttering and lag when

playing graphic-intensive title.

This is a minor issue though, and for most people,

the One Macro’s general performance will be more

than up to scratch.

Software and features

As with all phones in the Motorola One line, the One

Macro comes running an almost stock version of

Android. In this case it’s Android 9 Pie, although we

have no word on whether it will get the upgrade to

Android 10.

I’ve been bemoaning the heavy Android skins in

recent phone reviews, so this is a welcome change.

Motorola endeavours to produce as little bloatware as

possible, so there’s no duplicate email clients, calendar

apps or utilities. Of course there remains the option to

download third-party alternatives via the Google Play

Store, the way I’d prefer it to be on all phones.

The only notable addition when compared to

Pixel devices is the Moto app, although this feels



 •  43

The home screen’s

default clock widget

also displays the

phone’s battery level

genuinely useful. In here you’ll find various shortcuts

and gestures, as well more control over the way the

display responds to you.

There are also useful software quirks throughout

Motorola’s interpretation of Android. One of my

favourites is the default clock widget on the home

screen, which displays the current weather and date

in addition to the time. However, tapping each part

of the widget will take you to the relevant app: the

time goes to the Clock, date to Google Calendar and

weather to the weather app.

What’s more, the circle all this information is

housed in acts as a quick overview of your current

level of battery. I’m glad that’s here, as the battery

percentage in the notification bar is barely legible.

There’s a similar design to the always-on display,

although this can’t be customized like on other

phones. As I mentioned earlier, there are two

biometric options for unlocking your phone in

addition to the regular PIN, password or swipe gesture.

The face unlock is fine, if a little slow compared to

rivals, so I’d recommend using the fingerprint scanner

most of the time. This is fast, secure and reliable, and

can also be used as payment authentication. I enrolled

the same fingerprint twice for maximum reliability, and

never had issues with it not recognizing me.

Cameras

As the name implies, the Motorola One Macro places

an emphasis on close-up photography. In order to

achieve this, it has a dedicated 2Mp macro lens in

addition to the regular 13Mp camera and 2Mp depth

sensor. This means there’s no telephoto or ultra-wide

sensors, which greatly reduces the camera’s flexibility.

I’m obliged to talk about the quality of shots in

the macro mode here, and I have to say I was very

impressed. Few phones I’ve tested have been able to

capture this amount of detail at such close proximity.

While it can be a bit hit-and-miss, flowers were a

particular highlight, with the vibrant colours popping.

Being this close to the subject creates a natural bokeh

effect in the background, which is pleasing on the eye.

I was also impressed with the software-based

portrait mode. The One Macro allows you to

customize the amount of background blur in each

shot before you take it, although there is no option to

adjust this after the shot is taken.

Regular shots also have a good level of detail and

balanced colours, though they tend to be lacking in



 •  45

dynamic range. Don’t be fooled by what you see in

the viewfinder before you take the picture though, as

the software processing means you always get a more

pleasing end result.

Selfies are decent too, with the 8Mp front-facing

camera producing a solid amount of detail. However,

colours seem a little washed out at times, and it also

has a tendency to overexpose the backgrounds. Many

of my tests were carried out in bright environments

though, so that may have had an effect.

The One Macro can record up to 1080p video at

30fps. This is pretty standard for modern smartphones,


although the lack of image stabilization makes

footage look particularly juddery with any significant

movement. While it’s nice to be able to save separate

stills mid-video, these are often lacking in detail and

regularly unusable.

Battery life

The battery life on the One Macro is solid if not

spectacular. It easily lasts a day and a half of moderate

usage, but I was hoping for a little more considering

the 4000mAh battery and low resolution display.

Nonetheless, it recorded an above average 9 hours

Low light shot 

48  • 

REVIEWS

and 30 minutes in Geekbench 4’s battery test, and

standby time is excellent even with the addition of

an always on display. It can’t rival the likes of the

Moto G7 Power for pure battery life, but I can’t

imagine you’ll have any issues here.

Verdict

The Motorola One Macro is the first non-Chinese

budget phone I’ve been excited about in a while. The

software experience and everyday performance is

superb, meaning the user experience is among the

best in recent memory.

Compromises are inevitable at this price point, and

the slightly erratic cameras and uninspiring front of

the phone knock it down a few points. As such, other

options in our best budget smartphone chart offer

The Macro One comes

with Andorid 9.0 

a more complete package, but there are few better

phones if you’re looking for stock Android under £200.


Specifications

• 6.2in (1,520x720; 270ppi) IPS LCD capacitive

touchscreen

• Android 9.0 Pie

• Mediatek MT6771 Helio P70 (12nm) processor

• Octa-core (4x 2GHz Cortex-A73 and 4x 2GHz

Cortex-A53) CPU

• Mali-G72 MP3 GPU

• 4GB RAM

• 64GB storage (microSDXC slot)

• Three rear-facing cameras: 13Mp, f/2.0, (wide),

1/3.1in, 1.12μm, PDAF, Laser AF; 2Mp, f/2.2, (macro),

1/5.0in, 1.75μm; 2Mp, f/2.2, (depth)

• Selfie camera: 8Mp, f/2.2, 1/4in, 1.12μm

• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi

• Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE

• A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO

• Infrared port

• Fingerprint scanner (rear mounted)

• USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB

On-The-Go

• Non-removable 4,000mAh lithium-polymer battery

• 157.6x75.4x9mm

• 186g

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